Shark Bytes

The episode "The Whipping" was the best and the worst. The best because everyone was cured of their ills as Bill Hawks took them on himself, but when it came time for Barnaby West to whip his ass they didn't have the balls to carry it through--the worst.

"Wagon Train"jumped bigtime when the powers that be at ABC/Universal TV got the bright(?)idea to expand it to 90 minutes,for the 1963-1964 season.Thank heavens ABC/Universal TV returned it to one hour for the shows'final season(1964-1965).The late John Mc Intyre and Robert Fuller (both who had co-starred on the NBC episodes)were great replacements for NBC series stars the late Ward Bond and Robert Horton.It was even better in color,and the instrumental theme(introduced in the 1959-1960 season,before that,the theme was sung)was beautiful.

I liked the show and I'm not sure that it jumped. However, the "prison wagon" always bothered me. The wagon was equiped with metal bars. Can you imagine how much that had to weigh and how difficult it would have been to haul across the country?

When Flint, the scout left and several new characters were added. Ward Bond's death was significant to the show's demise too.

Wagon Train was a great TV western-the number 3 western of all time after Gunsmoke and Bonanza. Even Ward Bond's death in 1960 didn't really slow it down. It ranked number 1 for the entire 1961-62 season. It also had a great opening theme song-one of the best. It deserves to be on TV LAND next to the other two shows in the top three.

This show may have jumped the shark after Ward Bond died, although John McIntire was a fine actor and filled in well as Bond's replacement. I can't agree with the poster who said "Love Boat" is an exact copy of "Wagon Train." The only thing they have in common is that the action takes place while the cast is on a journey. "Love Boat" is a light, romantic comedy. "Wagon Train" is a Western drama. On Wagon Train, characters face life and death in a hostile environment. On Love Boat, older guests try to reclaim their lost youth, and younger guests try to get laid. (Off screen, of course, it is a family show). Wagon Train has a lot more in common with Gunsmoke than Love Boat. If Love Boat were like Wagon Train, then Jack Jones would sing the title song, and you'd have campy introductions of "Major Seth Adams, Your Wagonmaster," and "Flint McCullough, Your Scout." Maybe Julie McCoy could jiggle a little while Seth and Flint go off to fight the Indians.

It didn't. But didn't Robert Horton leave the last season and was replaced. He was my favorite and my mother's too!! And it should have been Ward Bond. It was not the same after he died. But hey aren't the last two posts about another show. Certainly doesn't sound like Wagon Train. I never thought about WT and The Love Boat being in the same boat. One had weekly perils, the other had love problems/issues. I think WT started over in St. Jo each year on the series. Didn't they get somewhere just once?

This must have been one of my favorite shows because I can remember several episodes almost forty years after they aired. Loved the Appaloosa.

I don't recall the show ever jumping the shark. But I must comment on the fact that "The Love Boat" is an exact copy of Wagon Train's format. An on-going journey in which the permanent cast stays put and celebrity guests come and go every week. Exactly the predictable format that more-conservative audience craves.

I HAD to watch this soap opera piece of crapola when I was a kid. They never got any where that really griped by butt.

Wagon Train was a great show and all, but did you ever notice that they never got anywhere? They just keep wagon training ...